Bessin a trusted team member for business clients

By AdvocateDaily.com Staff

In working with businesses involved in complex transactions, Toronto corporate lawyer Kobi Bessin sees himself as part of the client’s team — a head coach and trusted adviser tasked with providing valuable strategic advice.

Part of being a successful, trusted and ingrained member of the team, Bessin says, involves taking a direct approach with clients — and he finds most businesses appreciate his honesty in the long run, as they come to realize he’s more than just a service provider.

“We’re trying to achieve their objectives without compromising on what we need to do to get there. That means not always telling them what they want to hear, but what they need to hear,” he tells AdvocateDaily.com.

“Ultimately it’s my responsibility to ensure that any issues get dealt with in my role as trusted adviser and counsel.”

As a member of the Business Law Group at Torkin Manes, he spends a large chunk of his time working on mergers and acquisitions, as well as corporate finance matters.

“It’s a fast-paced and high-volume practice,” Bessin says.

As well as negotiating and implementing the structure of acquisitions or sales of companies on behalf of businesses, many of whom are active in the pharmaceutical, health-care and private equity sectors, Bessin also serves effectively as general counsel to a number of his smaller and medium-sized clients.

“They come to me with business and legal issues and rely on me to ensure that it gets dealt with appropriately,” says Bessin, who adds that Torkin Manes’ full-service business law offering provides him with the perfect base to refer work internally to trusted professionals.

Bessin says he can barely remember a time when he wasn’t focused on building a career in the legal profession.

During his time in law school, where he also clerked for a prominent local judge, he found himself drawn to corporate and commercial classes. And that fascination has only deepened since his entry into private practice.

“I enjoy the business side of things and really like doing transactional work, so it has been great to have so many opportunities to get involved in it,” says Bessin, who has also bolstered his credentials with a master’s degree in tax law. Prior to private practice, Bessin worked at a large multinational corporation where he held various roles, including in-house counsel.

“As I’ve sat on the client’s end, I understand the other side, and that has helped me to be a valued business adviser.”